For the second time this week, Bianca Andreescu of Missisauga, Ontario delivered a tennis upset for the ages. On Friday, she knocked out former world number one and tennis legend Venus Williams of the United States 6-7, 6-1, 6-3 in three sets in the quarterfinals of the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.
Andreescu won 65% of her first serve points, had three aces compared to Williams’s zero and won nine break points compared to five for Williams. The match also took a while, as it went two hours, 24 minutes and 30 seconds.
Williams was the sixth seed in Auckland. The seven-time major champion was number one in the world in 2002. Remarkably, Williams is 20 years older than Andreescu. Andreescu’s other major upset of the week is when she shocked the first seed and reigning Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-4, 6-4 in the second round on Thursday.
Andreescu will now face the third seed Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei in the semifinals. Hsieh has had great success in doubles over the years as she won the 2013 Wimbledon and 2014 French Open with Shuai Peng of China. However last year, Hsieh made an impact in women’s singles as she won the Japan Women’s Open by beating Amanda Anisimova of the United States 6-2, 6-2 in the final in Hiroshima on September 16. Hsieh is currently the 28th ranked player in the world and the third seed in Auckland.
The other semifinal will have Julia Goerges, the second seed from Germany. Goerges will face Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia. Goerges beat Eugenie Bouchard of Montreal, Quebec 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 in the quarterfinals, while Kuzmova beat Anisimova 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Hsieh’s quarterfinal win came over Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain by a score of 6-3, 6-2.
